Circa 1987-India

Welcome back!

Change is something that is inevitable.

If you were born sometime in the early 80s , you will be able to associate with yourself a couple of points typed below …..These are things that I have seen , experienced…..

Circa 1987:

• A handsome PM, Rajiv Gandhi…
• Petrol costs Rs10/L and Diesel at Rs 3 or so….
• Thums Up , Limca , Gold Spot – the only soft drinks available…, Coca Cola was available before George Fernandez chucked them out of the country.
• TV is just in, Doordarshan is the only channel…. cable TV that’s not even in dreams…
• Maruti(soap box types), Premier Padmini and Ambassor the only cars on road…(in the reverse order of luxury)
  
• 5ps, 10 ps and 20ps(made of Aluminium) coins accepted by all….
• Minimum charge for bus is Ps.50 and Auto Ric Rs.2.50
• Dollar V/s Re– at Rs 10+ /USD
• Re1 coins had H , M , T or a *. Collect 3 coins one each with H, M and T towin a watch from HMT
• Computer is something like a TV, think a company called Wipro makes them..
• India Biz is ruled by the Tatas, Reliance is just a term in the Oxford Dictionary (for the common man)
• Reynolds pens are chic(leave the imported Sheaffers, Mont Blanc etc). They(Reynolds) have started making pens in Chennai…
• Ball pens are not use and throw….refills available…
  
• Rs 1000 note was banned long back by Mrs Gandhi… 500 notes not that common….thats the only note with a Gandhiji’s image printed(not watermark)
  
• Telephone connections available at the mercy of Dept of Telecom(was that P& T then?).. … apply and wait…. for years……all the best!(later when phones started becoming common,tracing the caller’s number in case of a prank call was next to impossible.. write letters to various telecom officers ….they may help you , see the change now every body has a caller id.)
• Telegrams still in vogue… The nearest Courier guy is miles away….
  
• Surf is synonymous with detergent in the urban households….Binaca , and Colgate for toothpastes…(later came the red Close Up, that was very much novel in that period)

• Maximum wait in a traffic signal was 30m seconds(or was it lesser than that)… Keltron monopoly in the traffic signal installations…
• Shortages are the order of the day… couple of years back (1984) cement was imported from North Korea…
• Bata’s North Star is a leading brand of shoes.
  

These are not in any order , but totally random… might add more points later…
>>>Claimer– Some of the figures may slightly differ from place to place<<<

Adios

Nikhil

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